A colleague recently contacted me about applying for a research position in his field of interest of brain imaging.

It is a small company with a limited amount ofof public information. He asked about who to addressin the cover letter and details about virus-protection software that blocks link-containing documents.

He also wanted to explore why it was critical to joinand become an active member of a professional society.

USING MENTORS AND THE LONG TAILMy first thoughts directed me to explore the companyin LinkedIn after studying the company website. It is important to go beyond the website in looking for detailsabout any position. So a google search looking at manypages beyond the high frequency first page is importantto use. This is also known as the search distribution long-tail coined by Chris Anderson.

In Linkedin, I found a second degree connection to theCEO and founder which led me to an information loadedprofile which I then shared with him.I learned the company was a start-up, had recent fundingand had advertised the position he had interest in. So,I forwarded a suggestion to contact the CEO by Inmailand ask to engage in a short conversation about theposition. Before doing this he should prepare thoroughlyby having stories to tell about how he uniquely qualifiesfor the position, by using information at hand aboutsalary ranges for the position in that area of the country,and by having critical questions outlined for him to ask.This is a common information interview.

Listen carefully to keywords he uses that can beincorporated into the cover letter and resume.

If salary comes up in the discussion, reveal what yourresearch has provided. Then ask, how much is budgetedfor the position, rather than saying how much you wish.Defer that discussion until you have an offer, knowwhat the job entails and get a sense that you like theculture and they like you.

So, contact a person in the company before uploadingdocuments. This way it is not a “cold contact” applicationwithout assessing keywords to use and a person toaddress and follow up with.

COVER LETTER AND DOCUMENTSThere are three clear objectives that a cover letter provides–explains gaps, shows a clear match for you in the positionand provides your thinking about your career movementinto the position.

Documents we upload can be blocked if they have links in the cloud by software. So, either delink thedocuments, in Word, or use .txt format without links.

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIESPeople in professional fields use societies to continueto learn important elements in their field through meetingsand publications, to share what we learn with other professionals and to be part of the professionals advocating for the growth and importance of the field.

One Response to “Exploring a Position at Company. Mentors, Preparation for contact”

Recently, I had the challenge to upload .pdf files. If you face this challenge you might do what I did.
I scanned the document with my HP scanner-printer-fax and saved as a .pdf file. This was then uploaded.